DIWALI GIFTS, BIG & SMALL
Cash clears deck for green threesome

The government plot in Kadma’s Uliyan where one of the three state-funded parks will come up. (Animesh Sengupta)

Call it the state government’s festive gift to Jamshedpur with a difference. The city where all public parks have been set up by private companies is now set to change.

Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) special officer R.N. Dwivedi said the state had allocated Rs 58.21 lakh for the current fiscal for three parks on government land, which the civic body received on Friday, four days before Diwali.

“This was the first time that the urban development ministry of Jharkhand gave us funds to develop parks on government land in the city. So we decided to give residents living in non-Tata Steel land falling under the JNAC command area an opportunity to breathe easy,” beamed special officer Dwivedi.

These funds clear the decks for civic body JNAC to set up three parks on government land at Uliyan in Kadma, Birsanagar and Baridih. The first to come up with government funding will be the Uliyan park near Vijaya Heritage.

Though there is a large number of high-rises in the Uliyan area, residents have no choice but to go to Jubilee Park, 5km away, pointed out Dwivedi. “The Uliyan park will give “a green and state-of-the-art facelift” to this comparatively neglected area,” he said.

A plot of around an acre has been identified. “A formal design yet to be drawn up, but we will ensure it is a visit-worthy park. It will have ornamental and flowering plants and enough space for recreation of children and adults,” he said.

He added they were already in the process of raising the boundary wall on the plot with the help of existing funds.

“The wall will take around two weeks. By that time, we will have a plan ready for starting actual construction of the park,” he added.

The tender for construction will now be floated and the park is likely to be open to the public by May 2013.

Birsanagar, adjoining Telco township on the city’s north-eastern part, the second park in the series, has no green lung. Baridih has a sun temple on a sprawling field dotted with flowering plants and shady trees. But a public park is needed as it is a secular space for people of all creeds.